tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post7284512466841804919..comments2023-12-24T00:14:00.742-06:00Comments on Cup O' Joel: On writing about religionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-19251732941257440532011-12-10T01:12:09.649-06:002011-12-10T01:12:09.649-06:00Joel, Your background is exactly what adds weight ...Joel, Your background is exactly what adds weight to your religious discussions in my view. I have always been a bit too slow to keep up with the bloggedy blog pace of the exchange of ideas, and the result being the Tebow posts making a swoosh in the resonance of the civility post. Combined with this post, which gives voice to millions of us who travel a different road than those who raised us and love us, I hear a - how you say - "sub theme" involving the act of making a stand. I have stories awaiting Laphroig. One of these years, my friend.<br /><br />Anyway. Agnosticism and Faith are not mutually exclusive. That's my stand. No doubt involved.DOTDOThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960965978489650636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-9074178214461433162011-12-09T15:52:36.419-06:002011-12-09T15:52:36.419-06:00Joel,
First let me say that I am your father-in-l...Joel,<br /><br />First let me say that I am your father-in-law, and that you were present for my ordination to the Christian Ministry in '09.<br /><br />I found nothing offensive in your T. Tebow post, but rather found much to commend. You were speaking from your position as one who formerly professed a relationship with God via Christ, but now don't. You were questioning the effectiveness of Tebow's witness, and I think correctly so.<br /><br />I, too, find overt displays of "Christian piety" patently offensive and antithetical to God's intention for all of us who follow the Carpenter. Inordinate pride in religion is not really religion, but something else entirely, most probably a toxic form of … well, I'm not sure what it is.<br /><br />Yet, if I told someone that I was an evangelical Christian, they would automatically assume that I held certain opinions (about abortion, prayer in public schools, etc.). They would be surprised to know that I am opposed to all the conservative Christian positions touted in the press, and I am opposed to them on solid theological grounds. <br /><br />What passes for Christianity in our nation today would not be recognized as such by the first Christian's who inhabited these shores in the 1600's and from whom you know I am descended. John Stewart's ribbing of Congress this week made a similar point. <br /><br />It is a sad thing that Conservative Evangelical Christianity has high jacked the "faith" conversation with its claim that intellectual ascent to a bundle of propositions is faith. <br /><br />This is not faith, but certitude in opinions most of which are not worth holding, and many of which are harmful, to those who hold them and the people they influence. <br /><br />Here is a quote from Reinhold Niebuhr's "Leaves From a Note Book of a Tamed Cynic", a note he wrote upon returning from a parishioner's Thanksgiving celebration near Detroit in the 1920's: "The Lord that was worshiped tonight was not the Lord of Hosts, but the spirit of Uncle Sam given a cosmic eminence for the moment the dear old gentleman does not deserve. It is a bad thing when religion is used as a vehicle of pride."<br /><br />This is the underlying premise of your blog. Pride in religion negates G-d's effectiveness. Those are not your words, but I do believe it was your sentiment. <br /><br />So, in closing, let me make this abundantly clear: Faith is an ever growing comfort level with the unknown, with ambiguity, with the ineffable, and learning to trust the comfort we gain from our experience with the unknown.<br /><br />The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of the things not seen.(11:1)" <br /><br />WE have had 30 years of bad theology in our public life. And bad theology in our public life gives us bad politics. AND We have a lot of bad theology out there today.<br /><br />G & P<br /><br />daKellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04595185535292546962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-83968152060917245122011-12-09T10:25:22.293-06:002011-12-09T10:25:22.293-06:00As a committed Christian and pretty good Episcopal...As a committed Christian and pretty good Episcopalian, I must tell you that I heartily agree with everything you say. But where you jumped from belief to agnosticism, I jumped the other way.<br />Both agnostics and Christians must, in the end, believe in the tendency toward goodness in humanity. Agnostics are full of doubt. So are thoughtful Christians.<br />Christianity, done well, gives an organization and direction to the practice of our better natures. Without my church, I would be less likely to seek an opportunity to help feed warm meals to the hungry (and hungry college students). I would limit my circle to people who thought like me and I would would not have the deep affection I have for people who disagree with me.<br />On the other side, agnostics never have to serve on the vestry.<br />Those who know you, know your heart and know it is good.<br />If we know that, surely God does too (sorry).<br />I know and understand your journey and am sure that wherever it leads you will be true to yourself and to others.Patrick Kelleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-32706344940395345372011-12-09T08:17:24.871-06:002011-12-09T08:17:24.871-06:00Here's the funny thing: In a previous post, I ...Here's the funny thing: In a previous post, I was accused of sharing TMI because I wrote explicitly about my poop. This feels far more TMI to me than the poop post. I almost didn't publish it. But here you go.Joelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14753052418658482508noreply@blogger.com